THE OFFICE OF DISCLOSURE CONTINUES TO
IMPROVE COMPLIANCE WITH THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUIREMENTS

Issued on August 3, 2010

Highlights

Highlights of Report Number:2010-30-090 to the Internal Revenue Service Commissioner forthe Small Business/Self-Employed Division.

IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must ensure
that the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Privacy Act,
and Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) Section (§) 6103 are followed,
particularly because errors can violate taxpayer rights and result in improper
disclosures of tax information.

WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT

TIGTA
is required to conduct periodic audits to determine if the IRS properly denied
taxpayers’ written requests for tax account information.TIGTA is also required to include the results
in one of our Semiannual Reports to Congress.This is our eleventh review of denials of FOIA, Privacy Act of 1974, and
I.R.C. § 6103 requests.

The overall objective of this review was to determine
whether the IRS improperly withheld information requested by taxpayers in
writing,based
on the FOIA exemption (b)(3), in conjunction with I.R.C. § 6103, and/or FOIA exemption (b)(7) or by replying that responsive
records were not available.

Since Fiscal Year 2000, the IRS has made significant
improvement in responding timely to FOIA and Privacy
Act requests.In all FOIA and
Privacy requests reviewed, a timely response was provided.In our audits over
the previous 10 years, the percentages of untimely responses ranged from 1.2
percent to 43.5 percent.The increase in
responsiveness may, in part, be due to the continued decrease in the numbers of
FOIA and Privacy Act cases received during Fiscal Year 2009 compared to Fiscal Year 2008 and the prior years this
review has been conducted.

WHAT TIGTA RECOMMENDED

TIGTA did
not make any recommendations in this report.However,
a draft of the report was provided to the IRS for review and comment.The IRS did not have any written comments in
response to the report.

READ THE
FULL REPORT

To view the report,
including the scope, methodology, and full IRS response, go to: